Darren Moore assesses Sheffield Wednesday survival chances after Rotherham sickener

In a fraught South Yorkshire derby Wednesday missed a host of chances and paid the price when Freddie Ladapo fired home in the seventh minute of injury time as Moore’s Owls looked to press on for a winner.

Speaking over the backdrop of a lone voice screaming in frustration outside Hillsborough, a level-headed Moore refused any notion that his side’s safety chances were dashed by the result and reiterated the desire to have his side play on the front foot.

Big chances were missed by Callum Paterson, Barry Bannan, Adam Reach and others as Wednesday rallied back from Michael Smith’s 17th-minute opener to equalise through a Matt Olosunde own goal with eight minutes remaining.

Having emptied his bench of attacking players, all Moore could do watch watch on as Ladapo sealed the Millers’ first-ever league double over Wednesday to leave the home side seven points adrift.

“You’ve seen the chances tonight, you’ve seen the control of the game tonight,” Moore said. “We didn’t get the goals we deserved. For the players it’s important they keep the focus and keep going. We need to keep working on that to turn things around.

“We created enough chances to score more goals. That’s the way I want us to play football, on the front foot, to try to create chances and the players did that tonight. It was just the final contact in the opposition box.

“What we’ve got to do is settle down as a squad, find a rhythm.”

In defeat Wednesday continued a galling statistic of not having picked up a single point having fallen behind this season.

Moore said: “It is incredible really and it shows where the club has been over the course of the season. We need to change that mentality and that’s where a lot of the work comes in. We go again for the next game.

“You’ve got to take your eyes of that and approach the next game one at a time and get some points. That’s the main thing.”